Regulatory Developments

A Preview of EPA’s Budget Under President Trump

Many news outlets have reported on a leaked 23-page budget the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent to the EPA, which recommends an overall 24 percent cut to the Agency’s total annual budget for fiscal year (FY) 2018 to go along with a 19 percent reduction in EPA staff. The OMB document itself has not been made public, but in a news release, the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) provides a list of the significant administrative and programmatic reductions the OMB proposes.
As the NACAA notes, the OMB document, called a passback (i.e., the OMB passes EPA’s proposed budget back to the Agency) comprises instructions on what the EPA may and may not do. OMB’s document is not the final budget proposal the administration submits to Congress, although any such proposal may indeed contain all of OMB’s recommendations and perhaps even additional cuts. However, Congress has the final word in appropriating Agency budgets. The NACAA points out that even conservative members of Congress may resist cuts in some EPA programs that benefit their states or districts.

3,000 Full-Time Jobs Eliminated

Following are OMB’s significant budgetary changes for the EPA in FY 2018 as listed in NACAA’s news release:

$159.5 million for state and local air quality management grants (Section 103/105 grants), which is a 30 percent reduction from the FY 2017 level of $227.8 million;

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